Let's break this down again. Basic summaries/plots? Different in several crucial ways. But let's look at 1) important characters; 2) major events of the story; 3) minor events or events that happen outside of the main story.
1)
a) The King. Mufasa and Hamlet, Sr. Both are wise rulers of a peaceful country. (I can go through and cite this I suppose, but for right now I won't) Both appear as ghosts to their son, The Prince. Mufasa lives during the action of TLK. Hamlet, Sr. lives prior to the action of H. Interestingly, Mufasa is the presumed father of Nalla, The Love Interest. Both Mufasa and Hamlet, Sr. die.
b) The Prince. Simba and Hamlet. Both are the child and heir of The King. Simba is driven "insane" by grief, giving up his responsibilities as rightful heir to Pride Rock and escaping to the jungle across the desert. Hamlet is driven "insane" by something (possibly grief, possibly rage, possibly as a ruse), wandering about the castle and making his mother, The Queen, and the current king, The Uncle, and Ophelia, the Love Interest, very anxious. Hamlet dies, Simba does not.
c) The Uncle. Scar and Claudius. Both are the brother of The King and The Uncle of The Prince. I assume that both "marry" The Queen (in the case of TLK it is a bit unclear, but that is how lion prides usually work). Both kill The King. Both deny this action and place the blame elsewhere. Both Scar and Claudius die.
d) The Queen. Sarabi and Gertrude. Both are the wife of The King and then The Uncle, both are the mother of The Prince. Sarabi is a grudging "wife" and Gertrude is a willing (or at least supportive) one. But both "marry" the murderer of their former husband. Gertrude dies, Sarabi does not.
e) The Love Interest. Nalla and Ophelia. Nalla is probably The Prince's half sister. Ophelia is probably no relation to The Prince. Nalla is The Prince's best friend in childhood and brings him out of his "insane" grief to eventually return to enact revenge on The Uncle. Ophelia commits suicide after prolonged mistreatment by The Prince. Ophelia dies, Nalla does not.
f) The Advisor. Zazu and Pollonius. Pollonius is the father of The Love Interest. Pollonius dies, Zazu does not.
g) The Best Friends. Timon and Pumbaa, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Timon and Pumbaa have nothing to do with the action at and around Pride Rock. They are given no importance in the heirarchy there. Also, The Prince relies on them heavily and trusts them a great deal. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have a bit of clout at court, are charged with a task directly by The Uncle, and seem to have little to none of The Prince's trust. Timon and Pumbaa live, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die.
CONCLUSION: Three fairly close matches, though one is an "off-screen" character in H while an "on-screen" character in TLK. That's about half of the story (The Prince's life with The King) that happens in TLK that does NOT happen during the action of H. To me, that is already a stretch for a retelling. But it's far from conclusive, so let's keep looking.
The death tally is telling. Of the 8 characters the I drew parallels between, all 8 of them die in H and only 2 of them die in TLK. The deaths are a crucial part of H, giving a weight and gravity to the play that it would otherwise lack. It would be a very different work with fewer deaths. H can be read as a telling of the downfall of Denmark's (The Kingdom's) monarchy through the deaths and evils cascading from fratricide. The Kingdom in TLK suffers a temporary downfall during the rule of The Uncle but is restored to its former glory by the return of The Prince. The Prince in TLK is a savior, not an instrument of death and destruction.
H is not so much about justice as it is about revenge. TLK is not so much about revenge as it is about justice: each character gets what they deserve.
Ok, I got into themes a little there. I'll stop for now (time to get to German class) but I'll continue if I feel like there's anything more to say. Tell me your thoughts!
I agree with this section the most so far. (And you did mention the ghost thing!) All of your points are very valid, and well-taken.
ReplyDeleteStill I would have come to the opposite conclusion here. The fact that you can make all these structural parallels means there is a conscious similarity between the two.
I will concede that LK is more about justice (though what's the difference, really? And isn't WS suggesting Hamlet might see his actions as justice?) but I don't think that means LK isn't a retelling. I guess this goes back to your def of retelling vs. mine: I think the themes are similar, and plot structure similar, though they're used for two totally divergent purposes.
Yes, there is a conscious parallel. As Wikipedia says of TLK, "The story, which was influenced by the Bible stories of Joseph and Moses, the Epic of Sundiata, and the William Shakespeare play Hamlet, takes place in a kingdom of anthropomorphic lions in Africa." So does that make TLK a retelling of all three? I think Part 1's clarification of what is a retelling shows that TLK doesn't meet the common definition of a retelling. Could tighten that up? Make it explicit what are requirements to qualify as a retelling?
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